Wrench.



J. B. GATHRIGHT.

WRENCH.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 20, 1913,

1, 1 1 7,026, Patented N0v.10, 1914.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSIAH B. GATHRIGHT, 0F LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

RENCH.

s ecification o f awe-rs Patent.

Patented Nov. 10, 1914.

' Application filed Innate 1, 1913. Serial No. 774,838.

To all whom it may concern: f

Be it known that I, JOSIAH B. GATH- RIGHT, acitizen of the United States, residing at Louisville, in the county of Jefferson and State ofKentucky, have invented new and useful Improvements in Wrenches, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in gripping tools of that class having crossed levers and jaws so correlated that the jaws move in parallel planes while being scribed and claimed in hand tools other than those known specifically as nut wrenches and to all such tools in which said features may be usefully employed.

One of the important objects of the present invention is to provide a tool of the class herein set forth which will be of strong, durable, neat and well balanced construction and which may be most readily and conveniently adjusted to fit different sizes of articles without causing the handles to be moved so wide apart as to be not conveniently held within the grasp of the user when the jaws have been adjusted to fit the widest articles for which the tool is intended.

Another, and very important, object of the invention is to provide a tool of the. class stated with adjusting means so located that the tool may be held and adjusted with one hand, the adjustin means being provided with a finger grip Tocated between the jaws and hand grips and being in the central longitudinal axis of the tool.

Another of the important objects of the present invention is to provide a tool of the kind herein stated having an indicating means' which will disclose when the jaws have been adjusted accurately to fit articles of particular diameters.

The foregoing objects of the invention and others which will appear from the following description of the preferred embodiment thereof are secured from the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a view partly in elevation and partly in section showing a nut wrench constructed in accordance with the present in vention, the parts being in the position they occupy when the wrench is closed to its extreme' limit; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal view on a plane at right angles to that from which the device is viewed in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a cross section on the line 3+3 of Fig. l; and

Fig. 4 is a cross section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1..

A and B designate two members, the upper or forward ends 10 and 11 of which cross each other and are pivoted together at 12. The rear or lower ends 13 and 14 of these members A and B are of channeled form and so correlated that when the wrench is closed one fits within the other as shown in Figs. 1 and 3.

The parts 10 and 11 form crossed levers and the parts 13 and 14 form the handle portion of the wrench. The members A and B are so shaped as to provide a space 15 between the pivot 12 and the handle portions 13 and 14. This space receives the head 16 of right and left threaded screws 17 and 18,

said screws projecting laterally from thehe'ad and engaging swiveled hollow internally threaded blocks 19 and 20 respectively. Preferably, the members A and B are formed of sheet metal approximately U- shaped in cross-section, throughout, and consequently the blocks 19 and 20 are employed to afford an adequately stifi' threaded portion for engaging the screws 17 and 18.

C and D designate the jaws. These jaws are formed separate from the members A and B and are pivoted to the upper or forward ends of the latter at 21 and 22 respectively. These jaws are formed with downward prolongations having elongated openings 23 and 24, the said rolongations being bifurcated, as shown. uide pins 25 and 26 extend through said openings and through the opposite walls of the members A and B.

The outer Webs of the upper or forwardly projecting parts of the members A and B are removed, as shown at 27 and 28, in order that the jaws C and D may extend into the channeled members A and B, and said removed portions preferably extend from a plane below or rearward of the guide pins 7 they will form stops against which the edges of the members A and B will abut before the jaws have been brought into contact with each other. It also will be noted that when -the tool is closed, one portion, as 14, of the handle enters and'closely fits within the other portion. It therefore will be seen that the jaws may be opened a considerable extent without opening the portions 13 and 14 to such a distance that they cannot be conveniently included within the grasp of the user. The spaced relation of the jaws C and I) is preferably such as to be the same or slightly less than the diameter of the smallest nuts upon which it'is intended to use the wrench.

The use of right and left threaded screws enables the wrench to be quickly adjusted and the relative arrangement of the various parts is such that the wrench is well balanced and neat'in'its appearance. While adjusted to fit dilferent sizes of nuts, when the sizes of the latter are known, without requiring preliminary guess work and subsequent adjustment of the jaws onto the nut, an indicating meansis provided which shows accurately the distance between the jaws in the various adjustments of the latter, and hence shows when they have been adjusted to a position to fit a particular known size of nut which it is intended to tighten or loosen. This indicating means comprises two parts, to wit, a scale 31 and a pointer 32, respectively provided on adjacent portions of the crossed levers l0 and 11. The pointer is shown as a projection from the edge of the lever 10 and the scale is arranged on the lever 11 concentrically around the-pivot 12. a I

Having now described the invention, what I believe to be new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, and what I, therefore, claim, 1s:

A hand tool comprising a pair of members whose rear ends terminate in handles and whose forward ends are provided with crossed levers which are formed integral with said members and. are pivoted to each other at the place of their intersection, jaws.

- formed separate from said members and pivoted to the forward ends of the crossed levers, means acting upon the members to openand close the jaws said means lying in the plane intersecting the central longitudinal axes of the jaws and being provided with an operating member positioned constantly in aliuenient with the central longitudinal axis of the tool, and means for causing the ja \vs,to move in parallel planes while they are being opened and closed, thetool having pa i ts operatively arranged to define the inward movement of its jaws to pose -tions in which they are spaced from each other when they have been fully closed and said handles being hollow alid arranged'to be received one within the other when the jaws are in their last-named position.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOSIAH B. GA IHRIGHT.

\Vitncsses:

Copies of this patent may be o btalned for five cents each. by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. C." 

